December 6, 2016

December 5, 2016

November 29, 2016

November 14, 2016

November 12, 2016

Where Am I Now

After retirement in 2002 I backpacked many countries for 4 years and then moved to Oaxaca Mexico June 2006. Regularly visit sons in Hong Kong, Thailand and Las Vegas. Recently completed a 6 month RTW trip to the U.S, Thailand, Oman and Turkey ending in Oaxaca in April 2013. Returned to Oregon, Thailand, Hong Kong and Las Vegas Nov 2013 to Mar 2014. October 2015 to Feb 2016 another trip to Las Vegas, Oregon,Hong Kong and Thailand. October 2016 attended wedding of son Joshua in Hong Kong. Currently in Thailand.

Articles Tagged ‘USA’

After the wedding in Hong Kong, I flew to Bangkok on Oct 17. Stayed in the Dvaree Bali Serviced Apartments down an alley off Sukhumvit 22 where I’ve stayed several times before and can hang out with the guys (expats) at the Parrot Cafe up the street on 22.

Bob, my husband, left his Mia Noi for a few days to spend time with me in Bangkok. Took me to an Italian basement kitchen where they were having a half-price promotion on the food for the month of October. We shared a meal. Osso Bucco with lots of marrow. I absolutely love bone marrow. When Josh was Sous Chef in Manhattan we would go out at 2am where many of the chefs would go after work…the Blue Ribbon. The place specialized in 10 inch long beef bone boiled in herbed broth and then roasted and standing on end on the plate. They served it with long ice tea spoons. With toast and marmalade. OMG my mouth is watering.[read on]

Really enjoying Greg in Las Vegas. Weather warm but perfect for me. We went to a concert with Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin). Love his new album. But it was at a stand only venue and it nearly killed me. We left early. OMG, the strip is the best people watching in the world!

Greg’s best friends (both single like Greg) drove out from LA to spend the weekend with Greg and I. OMG, intense conversations! Wore me out! But I ate it all up. Mostly about male/female relationships, sex and politics. Ha!

Greg is throwing one of his bashs on Sunday. About 20 people for dinner. He cooks. Has a friend that is a sommelier helping him. He dropped off two cases of wine yesterday. Greg has become quite the wine connoisseur. (Had to look up that spelling) Angelo, the sommelier has a fusion restaurant that we went to last night. Foie Gras and escargot for appetizers and a wonderful tenderloin that Greg and I shared. Greg spends money on me like water. Makes me nervous but I don’t say anything. It’s his life. Am looking forward to talking with Angelo at the party. His ancestry is French, Italian and Mexican and he grew up in Mexico City and Guadalajara.

Had a pedicure yesterday by some lovely Vietnamese. Where did you live, I asked. Hue she said. You know Hue? She was surprised when I said yes. Then I had my hair dyed.

Darn, saw where the teachers, on strike, closed the airport in Oaxaca. But I suppose nothing lasts very long. I fly in next wednesday. Things should quiet down a bit after the elections Sunday. Now, of course, with ... [Continue reading this entry]

I have been renting the house out in Salem Oregon ever since I retired in 2002. After traveling for 5 years I settled as an expat in Oaxaca in 2006. I return to Salem about once a year for regular ... [Continue reading this entry]

It was an amazing experience. I was in my familiar Governor's Cup coffee shop in Salem Oregon talking with my friend when I told her I didn’t know what to do with all the Indian rocks my father inadvertently dug ... [Continue reading this entry]

A boat was docked in a tiny Mexican fishing village.
A tourist complimented the local fishermen on the quality of their fish and... asked how long it took to catch them.
"Not very long" they answered in unison.
"Why didn't you stay out ... [Continue reading this entry]

The flight back to the States from Thailand included a transit through Tokyo, Japan. But it snowed in Tokyo and the Narita airport closed. Waited in Bangkok airport 12 hours for an alternate flight to Hanada airport. With her ... [Continue reading this entry]

Need new crowns on implants I got last spring while in Bangkok. Need to see my son Josh and his lovely Significant Other, Polly, in Hong Kong. And spend some time down south in Krabi Thailand with my son Doug ... [Continue reading this entry]

Before flying out to Las Vegas from Salem/Portland to see my eldest son, I drove a couple hours to the coast to visit my cousin, Cindy and her husband Jim who live near Waldport. They were kind enough to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Won't bore anyone with the sordid details of bureaucratic busy work while holed up at Howard Johnson's Motel since March 19, 2013.
However I did meet up with the few remaining old friends I have here...very fun!
Tomorrow I'll drive over to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well, Facebook has cut into my blogging time. But since I am living in Mexico I love to keep up with my couchsurfers and friends I have made traveling besides friends left behind in the U.S. People say they prefer ... [Continue reading this entry]

I often encounter locals in Mexico who are quite shocked to hear that I have three sons...one in the U.S. one in Hong Kong and one in Thailand part of the year. To make it worse my husband is in ... [Continue reading this entry]

Why have I spent the last three visits in the States during the winter, I ask myself. Well, spending time with at least two of my off-spring during Christmas has a lot to do with it. But perhaps ... [Continue reading this entry]

JULY 4th
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. ... [Continue reading this entry]

I moved to Oaxaca City in 2006 to find 70,000 of the state's teachers striking in the Centro. They had been striking every year for more than 20 years to gain a minimum of educational standards for a state ... [Continue reading this entry]

Looks like another week holed up with my son, Greg, and my favorite sweet golden laborador, in Las Vegas. If Las Vegas is invaded I am quite certain I will survive. :)
I am cooking for the freezer as is ... [Continue reading this entry]

From Klamath Falls I cross the California border...past the WWII Japanese Internment camp at Newell near Tule Lake...euphemistically called the Tule Lake War Relocation Center...and head south toward Reno Nevada.
I have a blown-up photo of my father herding sheep ... [Continue reading this entry]

No wonder there are so many "old people" at McDonalds! A $1.00 coffee is only 69 cents for seniors! The waitress looks up and says, you aren't a senior are you? I say yes, 66. She ... [Continue reading this entry]

I'm back at McDonalds...pretty good latte here...cheaper than Starbucks. I'm sitting in my car using their free WiFi when a bent-over older (old sounds unkind) fellow appears at my open car window which is apparently an invitation for conversation.

After 7 weeks in Salem Oregon taking care of a lot of unfinished business and spending time with my son Doug, who will be returning soon to Thailand to join his Thai wife, I am finally on my way back ... [Continue reading this entry]

A bit of information about the formation of the individual and national consciousness of people in the U.S.
Sorry for length, but this is mostly for people who are not "United Staters." :))
We all know that the US was settled by ... [Continue reading this entry]

As death toll rises, Mexico rethinks drug war strategy
By TIM JOHNSON
McClatchy Newspapers
MEXICO CITY | The drug war in Mexico is at a crossroads.
As the death toll climbs above 28,000, President Felipe Calderon confronts growing pressure to try a different strategy ... [Continue reading this entry]

Whew! What a ride! A week in Vegas, a month in Salem Oregon, a week in Hong Kong, 5 months in Thailand (4 in Bangkok and a month on Koh Samui) a week in Hong Kong again, 2 weeks in ... [Continue reading this entry]

Yesterday got my glasses replaced that son Greg's new yellow labrador puppy ate. Puppy? At 16 weeks he's huge...but oh so loving! And he's so cute when he carries his own leish in his mouth when we go for walks. ... [Continue reading this entry]

You can just imagine the look on my son Josh's face in Hong Kong today as my chair collapsed out from under me in Las Vegas as I disappeared from view in his skype video frame! He he. Fell on ... [Continue reading this entry]

Had an outside lunch with son Greg, his Punjabi surgeon friend, Jody, and his wife Heather, and Greg Smith who was a classmate of Greg's in high school.
Playing with Val, Greg's 16 month old yellow lab who is constantly underfoot. ... [Continue reading this entry]

After a week in Hong Kong, just in time to avoid the worst of the burning of Bangkok just up the road from Sukhumvit 20 where I was staying, I flew to Portland Oregon with a transfer in San Francisco ... [Continue reading this entry]

This mainly for fam and friends...
Flew into Las Vegas from Oaxaca the end of September to spend a few days with my oldest son, Greg. Always a big treat. My old U.S. Samsung flip phone was on it's last legs ... [Continue reading this entry]

Salon.com had an article this morning on the NY Times best seller list that puts the far right-wing into a broader perspective.http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2009/09/12/rightwing_bestsellers/?source=newsletterIt begins:

While you are pointing fingers at our health care, consider this:
1/3 of all prescriptions by a doctor ever get filled...which means that
2/3 of all people who get prescriptions never even go to the pharmacy
Of the 1/3 of people who get ... [Continue reading this entry]

The LA Times has an opinion piece this morning entitled "What Mexico Really Needs From Obama" written by John M. Ackerman who is a professor at the Institute for Legal Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Greenwald, in Salon.com, describes how the Obama administration has passed the loyalty test when it allowed Charles W. Freeman Jr. to step away Tuesday from an appointment to chair the National Intelligence Council -- which oversees the production of ... [Continue reading this entry]

A man sleeps every night on a wrought iron bench in the park across the street from my apartment in Oaxaca Mexico. At 6 o'clock, he wakes and prepares for the day. He is dressed in slacks and a sweater ... [Continue reading this entry]

I'll bet anything this recipe came from an Irish sheep camp much like my father's. The recipe's originator, Jim Lahey of the Sullivan Street Bakery in New York ought to give you a hint.
The easiest bread recipe everBy ... [Continue reading this entry]

"On Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008, the astonished leadership of the U.S. Congress was told in a private session by the chairman of the Federal Reserve that the American economy was in grave danger of a complete meltdown within a matter ... [Continue reading this entry]

My unexpected Christmas "Mass" occurred last night in Las Vegas of all places: Out of the dregs of post WWII Liverpool bubbled brilliant words and revolutionary music...channeling truth and prophecy even they were probably not completely aware of. Helped along ... [Continue reading this entry]

Had a heck of a time getting out on the plane in the worst storm in the NW in 40 years! After a two hour trip from Salem to the Portland airport over icy washboard Highway 99 because the ... [Continue reading this entry]

It was supposed to be a simple trip from Oaxaca to Portland Oregon on December 17th to get stuff for my apartment in Oaxaca. In the first place the plane was an hour late out of Oaxaca. So I missed ... [Continue reading this entry]